Countdown to universal prohibition

Good news ...

Global progress towards achieving prohibition of all corporal punishment of children in all settings is accelerating worldwide, particularly in the context of follow up to the UN Study on Violence Against Children. As at October 2016, 51 states have achieved prohibition of corporal punishment in all settings, including the home; a further 55 states are committed to achieving a complete legal ban.

States prohibiting all corporal punishment of children, including in the home

Territories prohibiting all corporal punishment of children, including in the home

Progress is also being made in prohibiting corporal punishment outside the home. To date, corporal punishment is fully prohibited in schools in 128 states, in penal institutions in 138 states and as a sentence for crime in 164 states. In alternative care settings and day care, corporal punishment is fully prohibited in 58 states.

But still there is a long way to go. Still, only 10% of the world's children are fully protected in law from all corporal punishment. And still, so long since the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the statute books in far too many countries at best fail to prohibit corporal punishment of children, at worst specifically authorise corporal punishment of children and set out the details of how it should be inflicted.

Bad news ...

Prohibiting all corporal punishment of children in the home and all other settings is a well established obligation under international human rights law, but incredibly there are still 92 states where governments have not yet made a public commitment to law reform, and in 69 states, corporal punishment has not been fully prohibited in schools.

In the following 34 states, corporal punishment - whipping, flogging, caning - is still lawful under state, traditional and/or religious law as a sentence for crimes committed by juveniles: